LONDON — Uber has started the UK’s first robotaxi service in London, making a small fleet of self-driving minicabs available through its app for the first time.
The launch begins with 15 autonomous vehicles licensed to operate in the city, but each one must still have a human safety driver seated behind the wheel and ready to take over if needed.
Uber said its app survey found more than 100,000 London-based customers would choose a self-driving taxi if one was available. The company is rolling the service out gradually, and the option will only appear after a passenger has booked and if a car is nearby.
What it is like to travel in one of the cars
The ride itself was mostly uneventful, with the car moving through central London traffic, handling roadworks, traffic lights and a mini roundabout without incident for several minutes.
On one stretch, a cyclist waved the vehicle forward and it responded correctly. But the safety driver did intervene once when a van parked beside the car on a narrow side road had its back doors swing open. The vehicle braked sharply, an alarm sounded, and the driver took control.
Wayve later said the intervention was the driver’s choice and that its AI system would have been capable of dealing with the situation. Uber’s fare for a robotaxi ride will initially be the same as a standard UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort trip, with upfront prices shown in the app.
How the technology works and who built it
The current fleet uses Ford Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles fitted with driverless technology from UK firm Wayve. The system uses artificial intelligence to process information in real time from sensors mounted on the vehicle, including equipment on the roof.
Wayve says the cars are not programmed with fixed instructions. Instead, they decide what to do on the spot by analysing what is happening around them as they drive.
Wayve chief executive Alex Kendall described the work as a major technological challenge, saying it was like “the space race for our generation”, while acknowledging there are still hard problems to solve before the technology can be deployed at scale.
Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility and delivery, Sarfraz Maredia, said the plan is to phase the vehicles in over several years, and that human drivers will remain on Uber London for a long time.
Why the rollout is still limited in London
Although some industry figures had suggested fully driverless hire cars could be on London streets by the end of 2026, that now looks increasingly unlikely.
The Department for Transport and Transport for London are overseeing the process, and both have faced criticism for moving slowly. The DfT said it is working towards a framework for self-driving cars to be on the roads in 2027, but gave no exact date.
Transport for London said it was not blocking decisions, but was taking time to get the rules right. It said safety was the priority as the technology arrives in the capital.
Trade union GMB said caution was needed unless there was a plan to protect drivers, warning of potential social and economic disruption.
Competition, testing and the safety questions still to answer
Uber is not the only company hoping to run self-driving cars in the UK. Waymo, owned by Alphabet, has also been testing vehicles on London streets for several months, with safety drivers and staff in the cars, but not yet carrying members of the public.
Waymo already runs driverless services in US cities including San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix, and says it does not plan to launch a service in the UK with a human at the wheel.
Experts say there are still major questions for regulators, especially about how autonomous cars should behave in complex situations such as emergency responses. Prof Siddartha Khastgir of the University of Warwick said human drivers sometimes make judgement calls that are not strictly legal, such as mounting a kerb to let an ambulance pass.
He said that raises a difficult question for London: how a self-driving vehicle should respond in a crowded city where road conditions and emergency situations can change in seconds.
The latest UK news and stories from MCFC Report.
